Born in Dundee, Claire Blyth gained a B.Ed from Edinburgh University. Courses at Edinburgh College of Art, Dollar Summer School, the Open College of the Arts and Leith School of Art allowed her to develop her art practice while teaching and bringing up a family.

Her influences include Jasper Johns, Kurt Schwitters and R B Kitaj and, closer to home, Will MacLean and Victoria Crowe. Inspiration often comes from literature: Shakespeare, Anne Michaels, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Ted Hughes and Herman Melville are just a few of the sources Claire has used.

From starting points in history, travel or literature Claire draws on a store of symbols to tell the story of the individual's journey through life and humanity's journey through history. Working with mixed media and collage, she creates complex, multi layered pieces which catch the eternal and universal elements within an individual’s experience and so speak to us all.